Get Out of Your Own Head: Mindful Listening for Project Managers

by Charlie Scott

Interpersonal skills required by a project manager include empathy, communication, facilitation, and negotiation (Project Management Institute, 2008; Heldman, 2009; Frisk, 2009). These are sometimes called â€œsoft skillsâ€ to differentiate them from the occupational skills often required to do a job. In the case of a project manager, an occupational skill might be the creation of a work breakdown structure, which is a tool used to decompose the work elements of a project. A soft skill would be the ability to effectively communicate the meaning of that work breakdown structure to a project team member not versed in the technical details of project management